Credit: NASA/JPL
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is set for a November 25th liftoff. Its destination is Mars’ Gale Crater, with the robot slated to land there in August of next year.
During the nearly two-year prime mission of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), the nuclear-powered rover will investigate whether a selected area of Mars offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life and preserved that evidence – if it existed.
Given favorable weather and technical readiness of the MSL payload and its booster, the launch window is scheduled to open at 7:25 a.m. PST (10:25 a.m. EST) on Nov. 25th.
Today, NASA and contractor managers for the MSL launch held their Flight Readiness Review meeting at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
After an evaluation of the MSL spacecraft and United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, managers gave a “go” to continue proceeding toward a liftoff next Friday.
Mars environment: favorable for life?
The spacecraft — with its rover, Curiosity — is sealed inside the protective payload fairing atop the Atlas V rocket, which stands inside the Vertical Integration Facility at nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Launch Complex 41.
The Curiosity robot is geared with 10 science instruments to search for evidence about whether Mars has had environments favorable for microbial life, including the chemical ingredients for life.
The unique wheeled rover will also use a laser to look inside rocks and release the gasses so that its spectrometer can analyze and send the data back to Earth.
For more information about the Mars Curiosity rover, visit:
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By Leonard David